Discussion of public health and health care policy, from a public health perspective. The U.S. spends more on medical services than any other country, but we get less for it. Major reasons include lack of universal access, unequal treatment, and underinvestment in public health and social welfare. We will critically examine the economics, politics and sociology of health and illness in the U.S. and the world.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

The Horror! The Horror!

As New Englanders grimly contemplate a month or more of Gronklessness*,
an even more horrific prospect appears on the horizon: that president
Obama might remove John Kerry from the Senate to the Cabinet, whereupon
Scott Brown will rise from the grave, compelled yet again to devour
human brains.

Massachusetts law requires a special election to fill a Senate
vacancy. That's how Scott Brown became a senator in the first place.
Massachusetts Democrats don't have any compelling candidates to fill a
new vacancy. Just witness the ragtag band of Whotheheckareyous? who ran
against Elizabeth Warren in the primary.

But wait, it gets worse. Possibly corruptand definitely irresponsible
lieutenant governor Tim Murray is making noises about running. In a
well-financed campaign, he would be a gigantic human target.
Did I say well-financed? A zombie Scott Brown candidacy will be the
opportunity for the wounded and enraged financiers of the Romney debacle
to recover a shred of their dignity, and there will be no competition
for their money. Massachusetts will be carpeted a foot deep in cash.
Blimps advertising Scott Brown will hover over every city square and
village green. They won't just buy every commercial slot on radio and
TV. They'll buy the TV stations and run 24 hour Scott Brown
infomercials. They'll buy the Boston Globe, Worcester Telegraph and
Gazette, and Berkshire Eagle, and rename them respectively the Boston,
Worcester and Berkshire ScottBrownforSenate.

Brown has already proved he can win a bye-election, he already has an
organization and enthusiastic, experienced volunteers. The Democrats
had the candidate they wanted on November 6 and pretty even finances,
and Brown still outpolled Obama by something like ten points and made it
close until near the end. He'll get a sympathy vote this time around as
well.
Mr. President, please, in the name of all that is good and decent, don't do it! Sen. Kerry, think of the children!

*For those who don't follow the game where steroid abusers in plastic
armor beat the crap out of each other, that's New England Patriots
superhuman tight end Rob Gronkowski, out of action with a broken arm.

Massachusetts has had decades of one party rule by Democrats. For a long time, the Democratic establishment deliberately ran weak candidates for governor and didn't really support them, because they had veto-proof majorities in both houses of the legislature, run by tyrannical bosses. They didn't want any countervailing power in the governor's office. That's the explanation for Mitt Romney, by the way. So the party is really ossified. Elizabeth Warren is an outsider, not a politician. Finding someone with similar charisma in the state is tough.